Are the people of Snowdwell sick of stepping over your leader’s frozen corpse as they pop out to grab milk? Me too!

Wildfrost has weirdly managed to scare off a lot of people with its difficulty. After all, how could such a cute acorn inflict such suffering on your team!? Look at those eyes. Is that really the face of something that would pulverise you into snow-cones because you turned up? (Yes, yes it is).

In spite of this though, Wildfrost seems to be one of those games where you can enjoy consistent win-streaks once you figure it out. Given the open nature of deckbuilders, the following is (as always) not a concrete set of laws, but some frameworks to help get your foot in the door and start claiming wins so that you can stretch your legs and explore more of the game’s nuances at your leisure.

Grab your coat, it’s about to get nippy.

Companions are the life-blood of your play, not least because they give the bad guys someone else to punch that isn’t your hero. Out of the gates, you can field up to 4 (including your leader) and generally want to fill that as quickly as possible, ideally fielding a full party by the first major boss in level 3.



The reason companions are important is simply a numbers game: When you play them, they essentially have their own turns independently of yours. Thus, the more companions you have on the board, the more attacks you’ll have flying towards the enemy’s side and the more overall health you’ll have to weather opposing attacks. More attacks also mean fewer enemies, meaning your health will stretch even further.

Given this, I find that picking the path with two companion events (if it’s offered) tends to be a reliable opening play, if nothing else to give you another roll of the dice if you don’t quite get the right person. Getting a rough idea of your team is also important early on, as that will heavily influence the treasure cards and rewards you go for.

And even though you’re capped at 4, you shouldn’t necessarily stop there either, as any surplus will just sit on the substitute bench for you to switch in between levels. If your play feels a little fraught, try collecting more friends to see if you can get some better combinations down. As you get familiar with levels, some companions will be better/worse suited and you’ll buy yourself more breathing room to have a small roster to be able to swap out to specialise for.

The real scoop with companions, however, is to get them out as soon as you can. Here’s why.

Imagine you have a pair of Busted Swords and Snoof, and play them in that order. The end result is 4 damage total and Snoof on the field.

If, however, we were to play Snoof first, this changes everything. Whilst you play your Busted Swords, Snoof’s turn counter will also count down and they’ll then attack after your 3rd turn. The end result now is a total of 7 damage, Snoof on the field and a snowball in someone’s face.



Exact same three cards, but the order makes a substantial difference.

As such, you generally want to get companions out right away. Whether that’s using crowns or even hitting the redraw bell early to get to your star player. If, by the time the second wave of enemies arrive, you’re sitting on 2 people and haven’t even really cleared the first wave – then you’ve probably waited too long and will now have a very difficult fight on your hands.



Obviously there are exceptions, so keep a beady eye on what’s going on with the board too. Sometimes you won’t be able to avoid needing to play some important support/item cards to buy time or see to an enemy that’s about to get in your face. Survival on the board tends to outweigh adding more folks to it… Just don’t get too side-tracked on damage control that you forget to get the team out.

Clunkers are underestimated little beauties. Sure their conversation isn’t as interesting and their cupcakes rather lousy… but they’re built to get wrecked and they don’t leave complaints in the suggestion box about it. They’re always fully repaired for the next fight.

Clunkers can be played but don’t count towards your companion total, meaning they’re a nice way to pad out the board, plus you can have as many as you like. Whilst they come with sorts of awesome side-effects… the real boon is their clunker HP. Sure they may fall over if a Snowbo looks at them funny, but they can equally block that angry-looking Krab who wants to deck someone for 8. And that’s not something to underestimate.



For this reason, if you can’t quite get the companions you need… padding out with clunkers makes for a workable Plan B. Make use of their bonuses and then stick them up front when things get hairy. Clunkers like Shroominator or I.C.B.M are especially great for this, as their high clunker HP lets you shrug off multiple heavy attacks, which can be just as valuable as actually using them.

Better still, if you get some winning clunkers going, you can also clone them without having to fill out ethics waiver forms.

If you’re having trouble getting rolling with Wildfrost, then a handy rule of thumb is to find at least one companion for your team who meets the rule of 4:

4 or more damage in 4 turns or fewer.



The ‘gotcha’ in early game is normally not clearing the board quickly enough and simply being overwhelmed by attrition. At this stage, you’re generally not set up be able to run in all guns blazing… so the next best thing is to find someone who can. The key advantage with these folks is that they don’t need much encouragement, so you can throw them out and let them make a merry mess of things whilst you focus on everything else. They get your foot in the door, by forcibly removing said door.

Now if RNG gives you a wedgie by offering you no such companions… don’t worry, you’re not stuffed, you’ll just need to be a little more cunning. In these situations, treasure becomes your next go-to. Solid spells will need to become your substitute, especially damaging ones… so bust open every treasure chest and see if the shop has anything to give you an edge. Charms can be amazing, but are a little too all-or-nothing to rely upon in a tight situation. In these early stages, rolling for good cards tends to be the better gamble.

Now you might be thinking “If these blitzers are such bangers, then what’s the point of all these other losers?”

Solid, quick damage gives you the upper hand, but tends to be hard to scale. That’s where everyone else will come in. Broadly speaking, there are 2 rough categories that the others tend to fall into.

Firstly is support. These folks may not attack much, but often have useful utilities. The trap, however, is that they’re taking the place of someone who could be dealing more meaningful damage… so you should never have them take the place of a key hitter. After all, having Snoffel stall the board means naught if you’re doing little more than chucking gravel at things. Once you have such a hitter though, these folks can essentially keep them in the game or leverage for even more carnage. For this reason, they’re especially useful to field if you acquire the Companion Bell to get up to 6 peeps on the roster. At this point their boons tend to really be noticeable.

The second are scalers / growers. Out of the gates, they’ll disappoint you with the ferocity of a depressed weasel… but they have the means to jack up their damage to silly levels if you plan carefully. What you really need is the time to set up and a deck planned around doing so. As such, you may need to keep them to one side whilst you find ways to help them along. Whilst they may sound like a lopsided investment, these are the companions who you can expect to deal 50+ damage with the right attention, and are often the vital components to being able to crack the final boss.

There’s a reason that crowns are expensive, despite not looking as flashy as the charm gacha machine… they are just awesome.

Crowns are more than a free turn. They let your favourite cards queue jump as well, saving you from the frustration of when that killer play is sitting at the bottom of your draw pile, faffing with its bellybutton. The advantage this gives in getting set up on a level cannot be overstated. For this reason, the Woolly Snail before the major boss on level 3 is a regular must-have for me.



Your favourite companions and clunkers are generally the best recipients so that you can start cashing in on all their abilities right off the bat. However, don’t overlook the fact that you can add crowns to item cards too. Notably, this allows you to force awesome combos that you might otherwise need to wait or rely on luck for. Scared of that deadly heavy-hitter on the final boss? Snowcake them immediately and deal with them later.

Some of the scalers / growers I flagged before can also be insta-scaled by such a means… and that’s before the bad guys even have their shoes on.

Spending an entire turn just to draw some more cards may feel like a waste, especially as you can do so for free if you just loiter a bit… but this is probably one of the biggest traps in the game.

As mentioned before, fielding your companions in good time is critical… and if that means paying a turn to be able to do this, so be it. Getting the card you need sooner will pay back that lost turn much more than if you faff around for two.

Therefore, if the cards in your hand are just uninspiring or don’t contribute to what you have at this point… hit that bell and roll for the good stuff. You also want to plan ahead and leave a little wiggle-room with this too. If a bad enemy is going to crack you in 2 turns: Then unless you have an answer in your hand right now (or can redraw for free next turn), then hit that redraw so that you have a stab at doing something whilst they still have 1 turn on the counter.

That said, if you find yourself redrawing a lot – that’s probably a sign of one of two things: You may have either bloated your deck or are too reliant on a single card to do the heavy lifting. The former is treated by visiting Muncher and getting choosy about your treasures. The latter means looking out for other cards or angles that you can leverage to give your play more angles of attack.

If you’re awesome enough to have cut your teeth in Monster Train (and as well you should), then you might be in the habit of grudgingly having to put up with wherever you first placed your units.

Not here.

During your turn, you can freely move as many of your team around the board as you like. And this is not only encouraged… but is outright vital to your success.



Offensively, moving your crew around will allow you some control over who they target (or at least which row) and, just as importantly, in which order they attack. Have your weak hitter take out the barely-standing enemy so that your hard nut can crack the next person for full damage. Have Dimona line up the right person to get the best double-damage from her demonize… or at least not have your 1-hitter waste such a beautiful setup. This is also important when trying to make sure that your team doesn’t skewer themselves on spikes.

This is also valuable defensively, as well. Cycling your team around will allow you spread the enemy’s damage over everyone, allowing your whole team to stay in the fight. Stash some Clunkers in the back and then pull them forward when the big hits are inbound. You can also waste otherwise deadly barrage attacks by simply leaving 1 target in the row to take the hit (and then maybe buying them flowers or something).

On paper, recalling is excellent: Heal some HP, remove any negative status effects… oh and it’s free. Where do I sign?

Early on, however, this should only ever be a last resort.

Because you don’t redraw per turn, this means that a recalled companion will likely end up sitting in your deck for more rounds than you might expect… and you’ll definitely feel their absence whilst everyone else is getting pummelled. Even a person reduced to 1HP can still sit at the back and chuck the odd rock or two (and maybe even an insult if they’re feeling playful).



As such, try and keep everyone in the game as long as possible and squeeze what health you can, even if that means letting your squishy pet take a weak hit to the face. It’s a team bonding exercise, I promise.

There are generally only two points when you definitely want to recall: Firstly is if a companion’s attack is going to knock themselves out, such as hitting spikes or riling up a brute with smackback and a bad attitude. The second is if they’re going to be KO’d from an area of effect hit like barrage or Krunker’s rockets. Those attacks are going to hit anyway, so it’s better to recall in order to reduce the number of people getting clocked.

Recalling tends to be more valuable later on in the game once you have a full roster of companions and clunkers. At that point, you may be able to comfortably get a play of cycling out companions to keep up momentum in the fight (this is especially nifty if you get both the Companion and Recall Bells). But they key here is that the recalled companions get replaced quickly, that’s the biggie.

Charms are nifty trinkets that can go from making your cards a little less uninteresting to absolute beasts. It wholly depends on what your play has or needs, however, so even a favourite trinket can be an absolute dud in other situations. As such, luck is a big factor here (or ‘Heart of the Cards’, to use the technical term).

One of the key ways to help stack everything in your favour is to remember that you don’t have to equip charms right away. Unless you are reticent about your chances for the next fight… it’s not a bad idea to hold fire if you don’t have the right owner for them yet. Sometimes a highly suitable candidate may appear in one of the next rewards. By the same token, you also want to be careful about using all 3 charm slots on a card until you’re near the finale (unless you already have an insane combo, of course)… just In case you get an even cooler charm that would be a better fit.

Given the mercurial nature, you generally don’t want to prioritise charms in the opening levels. Don’t get me wrong, grab any you come across… but I wouldn’t forgo companions or treasure for them. Levels 2 and 3 are not especially forgiving of playing the long game, so it can set you back if the charm you get doesn’t give you an immediate edge.

Later on, however, is when you can start to go nuts. Whilst you want to be picky about your items and avoid deck bloat once you have a play going… there’s no such thing as charm bloat. Therefore, keep rolling that dice! If you’re sitting on a ton of cash and are near the final boss – Blow it all at the merchant or shop (or both, if you’re lucky). Worst case is that you get a new fridge magnet, best case you’ve just turbo-charged your play.

So screw waiting for luck… It’s nothing that a ton of dice rolls can’t solve. Sure it’s a bit more of a brute-force approach, but you should at least be able to get something good.

At the point that you’ve secured your first, hard-fought victory… you’ve probably seen the naughty surprise waiting in store for you. Like many of us, you’ve probably also had your butt whooped by it too.



Before we get to how not to leave yourself in this position, let’s first deal with that jerk now sitting in your way.

On paper, having to fight a beefed-up version of your own team might seem like a one-sided fight, but you still have an advantage that they don’t: Item cards (and terribly good looks, of course). For the most part, you’ll need to leverage some solid spells in order to level the playing field and then completely and utterly invert it against them. Hey, what else are old friends for?

One of the single-most effective counters is ink. Sure your former pals might be toting some nifty charms… but nullifying every one of their abilities will soon bring them into line. If you ever truly feel like you’ve created an un-beatable monster, then hitting up the Clunkmasters and inking everything like an enraged octopus may sometimes be your only way in.

Additionally, snow will often give you a cutting lead too. Your old leader might be snow-resistant… but everyone else isn’t. As such, nothing’s quite as handy as icing your former-MVP for the majority of the fight whilst you pick off everyone else.

To be honest, one of the biggest threats in this fight tends to be right at the beginning where your old pals may claim the first hit. Kneecapping this can often give you enough of the upper hand to make this an easier ride. For this reason, rearranging your crowns to prioritise the strongest opening move is also very important here. Having one of your weaker companions wait in the queue so that you can get an insta-Snowcake can often give you a better pay off.

Lastly, tempting as it may be: Try not to kill your former self too quickly (unless they are obviously the key threat to you). The second phase can be bumpy enough without suped-up versions of your old selves getting involved. By and large, pick everyone else off first, including any subsequent reinforcements, and then gang up on the head honcho.

At the point you’ve put them down, it now comes to whether you can help dissuade such a nightmare in the future. Whilst you obviously don’t want to make your team underpowered, there are a number of tricks that can help make for an easier fight in future.

Firstly, you generally don’t want to buff your leader too heavily (unless they are the ones carrying your play). Their snow resistance makes them hard to keep quiet in the fight, so it tends to be better to power up your companions instead as they can be put down with greater ease. In particular, it’s better to give health upgrades to others (and possibly avoiding the leader health bell altogether) as their current total health will scale how much health their evil self will have.

Similarly, going to town and making one single key player, rather than spreading buffs across everyone can also ease the fight where you only have one devastating target to be wary of. Obviously that doesn’t mean you should withhold good upgrades from the team, but if everybody floats like a butterfly and kicks like a tank, you’re definitely going to have a crummy time of things. Equally, it’s even sometimes it’s better to not bother with some charms at all if they don’t especially help your current play. Sure spikes or buffs from snow are nice and all… but if they’re not central to your build, they’ll simply hurt you a lot more on the other side to be worth the hassle.

The real naughty trick, however, is that clunkers and items don’t carry over (apparently, becoming a mind-controlled zombie makes you averse to worldly possessions)… and so dumping all of the cool charms on a Mimic or other such beauty is often the simplest move. You can get all of the cool bonuses without worrying about how you’d take it down later.

With this in mind, you should hopefully be able to kneecap yourself enough to allow a later you to beat up the now you and… ok… my head hurts...

Anything I've missed?

Anything you'd like more detail or explanations on?

Disagree with any of the above and want to challenge me to a Snowcake-eating competition?

Give me a shout!

Happy Gaming